Rosalynn Carter, a lifetime supporter of mental health and human rights, died on Sunday afternoon, surrounded by family, two days after being diagnosed with dementia in May. She was 96 years old.

Rosalynn Carter was married to the nation’s 39th president, Jimmy Carter, for 77 years and served as first lady from 1977 to 1981. Their four children, as well as countless grandkids and great-grandchildren, survive her. Jimmy, who stopped medical intervention in February due to his own health issues at the age of 99, is still under hospice care at home.

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born on August 18, 1927, in Plains, Georgia, the oldest of four children, and took over many of the family chores after her father died of leukemia when she was just 13 years old.

She attended Georgia Southwestern College in neighboring America after graduating from high school. After her first year in 1945, she met the previous president, who had returned home to the Plains from the United States Naval Academy. The next year, they married.

During the early years of their marriage, the Carters moved around the country while Jimmy was stationed with the Navy, from Virginia to Hawaii to Connecticut.

They returned to Plains in 1953, when Jimmy left the Navy to take over his father’s peanut and fertilizer company with Rosalynn’s assistance.

Rosalynn was a major influence behind her husband’s early ventures into politics, eventually helping him win an election as governor of Georgia in 1970.

As first lady during Jimmy Carter’s eventual presidency, she served as honorary head of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, finally assisting in the enactment of the Mental Health Systems Act in 1980. She was also a supporter of the arts and arts initiatives, as well as a frequent counselor to her husband.

After leaving the White House, the Carters founded the Carter Center, a health and human rights organization. Rosalynn sat on the Carter Center Board of Trustees and led the center’s Mental Health Task Force.

From 1988 to 1992, she was also a distinguished centennial speaker at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

Rosalynn was likely most conspicuous on the humanitarian front for her and Jimmy’s collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, known as the Carter Work Project, which began in the 1980s and continues to this day.

“For anybody who wants to get involved with an organization, there is nothing that they could do that would give them such a life-changing experience as Habitat,” Rosalynn commented at one point. “This is something that brings together people who have everything they need and those who don’t have so many things we take for granted.”

Jimmy and Rosalynn were known to continue turning up to build sites and helping out with hands-on work until recently.

Rosalynn joined The Atlanta Project’s Policy Advisory Board in 1991, where she worked to alleviate poverty in the state capital.

The same year, she launched Every Child By Two, a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of timely infant immunizations (decades later, when the COVID-19 vaccine was released, she and the former president were vocal about getting vaccinated against the virus as misinformation spread throughout the country).

Rosalynn published five books and received various distinctions from organizations such as the National Organization of Women and the National Mental Health Association.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Rosalynn and her husband the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying, “Just as Eleanor Roosevelt will be remembered for her work on human rights, Rosalynn Carter will always be remembered as a pioneer on mental health and a champion of our children.” Thanks to her efforts, I hope we will soon witness a day when mental disorders are treated and covered in the same manner that physical illnesses are.”

In 2001, the former first lady was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

The Carters sat down with people in 2014 to reminisce on their life together, revealing one of their long-lasting secrets: they still read to each other every night in bed.

“We started 40 years ago, and I don’t think we’ve missed a night,” said the former president.